quotations about kings
That the greater part of mankind are deluded by the splendour of royalty, I am not at all surprised; for the multitude appear to me to judge of people as happy or miserable principally from what they see. And royalty exhibits to the world conspicuously, and unfolded fully to the view, those objects which are esteemed of the highest value; while it keeps the troubles of kings concealed in the inmost recesses of the soul, where both the happiness and the misery of mankind reside.
XENOPHON
Hiero
This principle is old, but true as fate, Kings may love treason, but the traitor hate.
THOMAS DEKKER
The Honest Whore
Deception is the knowledge of kings.
CARDINAL RICHELIEU
Testament Politique
A man should either not converse with kings at all, or say what is agreeable to them.
AESOP
attributed, Day's Collacon
To know nor faith, nor love, nor law, to be
Omnipotent but friendless, is to reign.
PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY
Prometheus Unbound
Wise kings have generally wise counsellors, as he must be a wise man himself who is capable of distinguishing one.
DIOGENES
attributed, Day's Collacon
Kings have to deal with their neighbors, their wives, their children, their prelates or clergy, their nobles, their second-nobles or gentlemen, their merchants, their commons, and their men of war; and from all these arise dangers, if care and circumspection be not used.
FRANCIS BACON
"Of Empire", The Essays or Counsels, Civil and Moral
Royalty is the most wretched condition imaginable; for there is no possibility of setting one's self free from it, since how can any sovereign command sufficient resources to make restitution of property to those from whom he has taken it, or how can he make atonement in bonds to those whom he has cast into prison, or how can he offer a sufficient number of lives to die for those whom he has put to death?
XENOPHON
Hiero
What the devil's a king but a man, or a queen but a woman?
MAXWELL ANDERSON
Elizabeth the Queen
Before God, a king is as great a sinner as his meanest subject.
FREDERICK THE GREAT
attributed, Day's Collacon
And kind as kings upon their coronation day.
JOHN DRYDEN
Fables
Magistrates rule by an established rotation; kings reign for life.
ARISTOTLE
Politics
A king is a living law.
CLAUDIUS
attributed, Day's Collacon
Keep clear of courts: a homely life transcends
The vaunted bliss of monarchs and their friends.
HORACE
Epistles
He who reflects attentively upon the duties of a king, trembles at the sight of a crown.
DE LEVIS
attributed, Day's Collacon
Kings ought to differ from their subjects, not in kind, but in perfection.
ARISTOTLE
Politics
Man said, "I am tired of kings!
Sons of the robber-chiefs of yore,
They make me pay for their lust and their war;
I am the puppet, they pull the strings;
The blood of my heart is the wine they drink.
I will govern myself for awhile I think,
And see what that brings!"
HENRY VAN DYKE
"Remarks About Kings"
The metaphor of the king as the shepherd of his people goes back to ancient Egypt. Perhaps the use of this particular convention is due to the fact that, being stupid, affectionate, gregarious and easily stampeded, the societies formed by sheep are most like human ones.
NORTHROP FRYE
attributed, New Statesman, August 2000
Nay, the majesty of kings, is rather exalted than diminished, when they are in the chair of counsel; neither was there ever prince, bereaved of his dependences, by his counsel, except where there hath been, either an over-greatness in one counsellor, or an over-strict combination in divers; which are things soon found, and holpen.
FRANCIS BACON
"Of Counsel", The Essays or Counsels, Civil and Moral
King is a title which translated into several languages, signifies a magistrate with as many different degrees of power as there are kingdoms in the world, and he can have no power but what is given him by law; yea, even the supreme or legislative power is bound by the rules of equity, to govern by laws enacted, and published in due form; for what is not legal is arbitrary.
JOHN ARBUTHNOT
"The Freeholder's Political Catechism", A Supplement to the Miscellaneous Works of the Late Dr. Arbuthnot